Guitar festival returns

A guitar festival is strumming its way back to West Cork!

The Clonakilty International Guitar Festival (CIGF) returns next month for its 17th iteration, as organisers attempt to electrify the streets and crash the internet of the coastal town with the sweet sound of those six strings once again.

Joined by some of Ireland's most exciting and innovative independent musicians, the festival will stage outdoor performances, virtual premieres and hybrid gigs - livestreamed with audience.

The programme welcomes John Spillane, John Francis Flynn, Windings, Dani Larkin, Clare Sands, Pretty Happy, Kyle Macaulay and Nicole Ní Dhubhshláine, Red Sun Alert and more as well as virtual premieres of work from Eve Clague, Joshua Burnside and Laura Quirke, Lonely and the Moose, Myles O’Reilly.

Festival co-organiser Ray Blackwell said: “We can’t cram like sardines into every nook and cranny of Clonakilty as in previous festivals, so we’ve expanded the length of the event by three days. This way we can continue to honour the depth and diversity of approaches to guitar playing that has been the bedrock of CIGF since our first event back in 2005.”

A new addition this year is the Guitartown Cinema – a roving outdoor cinema that allows audiences to experience the online festival in a way that recreates the communal atmosphere of pre-pandemic gatherings.

The festival will take place from 10-19 September with tickets for in person performances going on sale tomorrow, 27 August, at 10am.

Explore the full programme and for tickets visit clonguitarfest.com.